Box breaker



y 1967 A. H. BRENNER ET AL 3,322,042

BOX BREAKER Filed Feb. 16, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet i m a. 4 m r; o H 0. m 8 0 VGIKM F M I 6 Wm m AMW Y B THEIR A 7' T0 R/VE Y3 May 30, 1967 A. H- BRENNER ET AL 3,322,042

BOX BREAKER Filed Feb. 16, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. Albert H. Brenner Mark Kub/cfi BY Walter W W/Ikem'ng LAM, M, Mw+ublx- THE/f? ATTORNEYS y 1967 A. H. BRENNER ET AL 3,322,042

BOX BREAKER 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 16, 1965 INVENTORS. Albert H. Brenner Mar/r Kubick y Walter W. Wi/ken/ng (J. M g g M iii/1M THE/R A TTORNE rs y 1967 A. H. BRENNER ET L 3,322,042

BOX BREAKER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 16, 1965 Fig. 8

Fig. .9

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INVENTORS. Albert h. Brenner Mar/r Kub/ck BY Waller W. Wi/Iren/ng THE IR A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,322,042 BOX BREAKER Albert H. Brenner, Franklin Township, Allegheny County, Mark Kubicl-r, Baden, and Walter W. Wilkening, Ambridge, Pa., assignors to Economy Tooling Company, Amhridge, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 433,040 7 Claims. (CI. 9336) This invention relates to improvements in packaging and relates in particular to an apparatus and method for preparing cardboard box sections for assembly.

A convenient method for packaging manufactured articles for shipment and display involves the use of U-shaped cardboard box sections. The articles to be packaged, such as toys, are placed within a hollow rectangular cardboard box that is open at opposite ends. The open ends are covered with transparent plastic so that the boxed article can be displayed.

The hollow rectangular cardboard box is formed from two U-shaped box sections having hollow legs. One section is inverted and placed upon the top of the other to form the box. The hollow legs of one are inserted into the hollow legs of the other. This procedure is time-consuming and difiicult since such sections are of substantially identical dimensions and the legs of one section must be crushed or collapsed to reduce their size so they may fit into the hollow legs of the other section. The walls of each leg must be collapsed inwardly, since if any bulge outwardly they interfere with their insertion into the hollow portion of the leg of the other section. Such sections and their assembly are shown in FIGURES 14 of the drawings and are more fully described herebelow.

We have now devised an apparatus which quickly, efliciently, and automatically collapses or folds the hollow legs of box sections, such as described above, so that they will readily fit within the hollow legs of like sections and form the desired rectangular box.

In the accompanying drawings, we have shown preferred embodiments of our invention in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cardboard box assembled from two sections, the assembly of which constitutes the subject matter of the method and apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the top section of the assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the bottom section of the box assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, fragmented perspective view of portions of one leg of the bottom section of the box of FIGURE 1 showing the leg as collapsed by the method and apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of an apparatus that exhibits the features of the device of the present invention, shown in the box section receiving position;

FIGURE 6 is a partial plan view of a portion of the apparatus of FIGURE 5 shown with the box breaking or folding apparatus positioned to collapse the hollow legs of a box section;

FIGURE 7 is a partial plan view of the apparatus of FIGURES 5 and 6 showing the hollow legs of the box section as having been collapsed;

FIGURE 8 is an elevation view partly in cross section of the apparatus of FIGURES 5-7 as seen along the lines VIII-VIII of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the box breaking or folding device of the apparatus of FIGURES 5-7 shown as prepared to fold one end of the hollow leg of a box section; and

FIGURE 10 is a plan view as in FIGURE 9 showing the box folding device as having folded the end of a hollow leg of a cardboard box section.

3,322,042 Patented May 30, 1967 ICC Referring to the drawings, FIGURES 1-4 illustrate the box assembly. This assembly comprises two U-shaped sections 10 and 12 each of which have hollow legs 14 and 16. The legs 16 of section 12 are intended to fit inside the legs 14 of section 10 as shown by FIGURE 1. FIGURES 2 and 3 show the two sections 10 and 12 independently. The article to be contained in the box is placed within the hollow rectangle formed by the two joined sections 10 and 12 and the front and back of the box are covered with a transparent plastic so that the boxed article can be displayed.

Sections 10 and 12 may be of identical dimensions since it is desirable to manufacture a single shape, consequently, legs 14 and 16 are of the same dimensions. Legs 16 will not readily fit within legs 14 but must be inserted by hand and forcibly reduced in dimension. Such method of assembly is time-consuming and inefficient. By means of the process and apparatus of the present invention, legs 16 of section 12 (or legs 14 of section 10) are folded together at each end substantially in the manner shown by FIG- URE 4 so that section 10 may be seated upon section 12 and legs 16 will readily project within legs 14 (or vice versa) to form the assembly of FIGURE 1.

To fold the legs of box sections in the manner of legs 16 as shown by FIGURE 4, we employ the apparatus of FIGURES 5l0. Our device, as shown by FIGURE 5, consists of four edge breakers or folders 18 supported by a frame 20. Two of the edge breakers 18 are attached to stationary platforms 22 and two are attached to pivotally movable platforms 24.

Frame 20 consists of a rectangular base plate 26 and parallel L-shaped angles 28 (see FIGURE 8). Angles 28 bolted to base plate 26 along their legs 2811 provide spaced parallel vertical legs 28a which serve as guides for positioning box sections on the base plate 26. Vertical legs or guides 28a of angles 28 extend beyond base plate 26 and 'fiange outwardly at their ends so as to receive and guide box sections onto the base plate 26 (see FIG- URE 5).

Horizontal legs 30a of L-sh-aped angles 30 attached to vertical legs 28a of angles 28 support platforms 22 (FIG- URE 8).

Pivot posts 32 vertically mounted to legs 28a of angles 28 pivotally support platforms 24 so that the platforms and box breakers mounted thereon may be moved from above legs or guides 28a permitting box sections to be positioned on plate 26 between legs or guides 28a (FIG- URE 5). Once a box section 12 is positioned on plate 26 so that the leading ends of its hollow legs 16 extend between the arms 34 of the box breakers 18 of platforms 22, platforms 24 are pivotally positioned so that the arms 34 of the breakers thereon engulf the trailing ends of such hollow legs 16 (see FIGURE 6).

Spring loaded pneumatic cylinders 36, supported by mounting brackets 38 of frame 20 at one end and arms 24a of platforms 24 at the other end, pivotally rotate platforms 24 about posts 32.

Bolts 40 holding one angle 28 to base plate 26 may be loosened to adjust the distance between legs or guides 28a and box breakers 18 by sliding bolts 40 and the one angle 28 along slots 42 in base plate 26.

Box breakers 18 each consist of an elongated slide bolt 44 projected through a housing 46 (FIGURES 9 and 10). Housings 46 each comprise a block 47 attached to one of the platforms 22 or 24, that supports a guide 45 that is formed with a slide opening that receives the slide bolt 44. Arms 34 of each box breaker 18 pivot on block 47 on either side of guide 45 and extend beyond block 47. Pivot links 50 pivotally attach arms 34 to bolt 44 of each box breaker so that when bolt 44 is slidably retracted so that its end does not extend substantially beyond the end 3 of block 47, arms 34 are parallel and receive the ends of hollow legs 16 of box 12 therebetween (FIGURE 9), but when elongated bolt 44 is slidably extended through guide 45 so that its end extends beyond block 47, links 50 cause the extended ends of arms 34 to pivot inwardly (FIGURE 10).

The end of each bolt 44 is wedge-shaped so that when a hollow leg 16 of a box section 12 is positioned between arms 34 (FIGURE 9) and the bolt 44 is slidably advanced through guide 45, the wedge-shaped end of bolt 44 forces the end wall of hollow leg 16 to fold inwardly and arms 34 are simultaneously pivoted to urge the sides of legs 16 inwardly through the action of links 50 (see FIGURE 10). Thus, the end wall of hollow leg 16 collapses or folds inwardly as the side walls fold together reducing the outside dimensions of the top portion of legs 16.

Bolts 44 of the box breakers 18 are slidably moved within the guides 45 by means of the plungers 52 of spring loaded pneumatic cylinders 54 attached to platforms 22 and 24.

A conduit 56 (FIGURE leading from a compressed air source (not shown) supplies compressed air to the spring loaded cylinders 36 and 54 by way of a three-way valve 58, conduits 60, a valve 62, and conduits 66. Threeway valve 58 controls the flow of pressure to conduits 60 and may be positioned to permit the flow from conduit 56 into conduits 60 or to release pressure from conduits 60. Conduits 60 supply pneumatic pressure to cylinders 36 and conduits 66 via valve 62. Valve 62 attached to the underside of leg 30a of angle 30, opens in response to an adjacently attached microswitch 64. Microswitch 64 opens valve 62 when engaged by a bolt 65 that is threaded to an opening (not shown) in a depending bracket 67 of one platform 24. Bolt 65 engages rnicroswitch 64 when platforms 24 are pivotally positioned above legs or guides 28a so that the box breakers thereon are positioned to fold the hollow legs of a box section seated on plate 26. Conduits 66 supply pneumatic pressure to spring loaded cylinders 54 so that these cylinders are supplied with pneumatic pressure only when the box breakers of platforms 24 are positioned to operate.

In the operation of the apparatus of the present invention beginning with the device in the position shown in FIGURE 5, a' three-way valve 58 is in a position to exhaust pressure from conduits 60 so that the springs of the spring-loaded pneumatic cylinders 36 hold platforms 24 in the open position and a box section 12 may be positioned on the base plates 26 between legs or guides 28a so that the ends of hollow legs 16 are positioned between the arms 34 and abut blocks 47 of the box breakers 18 attached to the stationary platforms 22.

Three-way valve 58 is then positioned to supply pneumatic pressure to conduits 60 which immediately conduct such pressure to cylinders 36 which overcome their springs and extend their plungers to pivotally positioning the platforms 24 so that the arms 34 of the breakers 18 of platforms 24 encompass the trailing ends of hollow legs 16 (see FIGURE 6).

Since valve 62 is closed when pressure is supplied to conduits 60, such pressure does not flow into conduits 66 until platforms 24 are positioned as shown by FIGURE 6, whereupon bolt 65 contacts microswitch 64 to open valve 62 and pneumatic pressure flows into cylinders 54 causing them to extend the elongated bolts 44 of each box breaker 18 in the direction of the end walls of hollow legs 16 and collapse legs 16 of box section 12 in the manner described and particularly as shown by FIGURES 7 and 10.

Pneumatic pressure is released from conduits 6B and 66 by repositioning three-way valve 58 to release pressure from conduits 60 and the springs of spring-loaded pneumatic cylinders 36 cause platforms 24 to pivot to the position as shown by FIGURE 5 while simultaneously the springs of spring-loaded pneumatic cylinders 54 cause assembly and the sections 10 and 12 as being cardboard;

It will be understood that for the purposes of the present specification and claims the word cardboard shall include, in addition to its usual meaning, any substitute materials, such as plastics that may be employed in place of cardboard.

While we have shown and described the present pre- 7 ferred embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for collapsing the hollow rectangular legs of U-shaped box sections comprising:

(a) a housing;

(b) an elongated member slidably mounted to said housing disposed to slide between first and second positions, one end of said member being extended beyond said housing While in said first position and retracted towards said housing while in said second position so as to force the end wall of an adjacent hollow rectangular leg inwardly when slid from said second position to said first position;

(0) arm members pivotally mounted to said housing one on either side of said elongated member,'positioned to extend beyond said housing and disposed.

for pivoting inwardly at their extended ends towards said one end of said elongated member while in said first position so as to engage the sides of an adjacent hollow rectangular leg and urge them towards one another; and

(d) means for substantially simultaneously sliding said elongated member from saidsecond position to said first position and pivoting said arms so that their extended ends pivot inwardly and the end wall of an adjacent hollow rectangular leg is forced inwardly and the side walls are urged together substantially simultaneously.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means (d) 7 consists of said arms being linked to said elongated member with pivot links so that when said'elongated member is'slid from said second position to said first position said arms are pivotally positioned by said links so that their extended ends move towards one another. V

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said elongated member is Wedge-shaped at said one end so as to crease said end wall of said hollow leg longitudinally and fold it inwardly along said crease.

4. An apparatus for collapsing the hollow rectangula legs of U-shaped box sections comprising:

(a) a frame consisting of a horizontally positioned base plate and vertically positioned guide members, said guide members being spaced and disposed to guide one said box section onto said base plate so that said. hollow legs are parallel to and extend upwardly above said guide members;

(b) folding means operable to force the leading end walls of said box sections guided onto said plate inwardly and simultaneously urge the side walls of said hollow legs towards one another, said means being positioned at the top of said guide members;

(c) folding means mounted to said frame pivotally (d) means for positioning said pivotally positionable folding means in said second position when said section is positioned on said base plate and means for simultaneously energizing said folding means (b) and said folding means (c) to force inwardly the four end walls of said hollow legs of said section and urge the opposite side walls of both said legs towards one another.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein each said folding means comprise:

(e) a housing;

(f) an elongated member slidably mounted to said housing disposed to slide between first and second positions, one end of said member being extended beyond said housing while in said first position and retracted towards said housing while in said second position so as to force the end wall of the adjacent hollow rectangular leg inwardly when slid from said second position to said first position;

(g) arm members pivotally mounted to said housing,

one on either side of said elongated member, positioned to extend beyond said housing on either side of said adjacent hollow rectangular leg and disposed for pivoting inwardly at their extended ends towards said one end of said elongated member while in said first position so as to engage the sides of said adjacent hollow rectangular leg and urge them towards one another; and

(h) means for substantially simultaneously sliding said elongated member from said second position to said first position and pivoting said arms so that their extended ends move inwardly so that the end Wall of said adjacent hollow rectangular leg is forced inwardly at substantially the same time said side Walls are urged towards one another.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said means (g) consists of said arms being linked to said elongated member with pivot links so that when said elongated member is slid from said second position to said first position said arms are pivotally positioned by said links so that their extended ends move towards one another.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said elongated member is wedge-shaped at said one end so as to crease said end wall of said adjacent hollow rectangular leg longitudinally and fold it inwardly along said crease.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,890,044 6/1959 Wisdom 9384 XR 2,929,699 2/ 1960 Ozor 53-371 3,183,801 5/1965 Egleston 9344.1

BARNARD STICKNEY, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR COLLAPSING THE HOLLOW RECTANGULAR LEGS OF U-SHAPED BOX SECTIONS COMPRISING: (A) A HOUSING; (B) AN ELONGATED MEMBER SLIDABLY MOUNTED TO SAID HOUSING DISPOSED TO SLIDE BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND POSITIONS, ONE END OF SAID MEMBER BEING EXTENDED BEYOND SAID HOUSING WHILE IN SAID FIRST POSITION AND RETRACTED TOWARDS SAID HOUSING WHILE IN SAID SECOND POSITION SO AS TO FORCE THE END WALL OF AN ADJACENT HOLLOW RECTANGULAR LEG INWARDLY WHEN SLID FROM SAID SECOND POSITION TO SAID FIRST POSITION; (C) ARM MEMBERS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TO SAID HOUSING ONE ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID ELONGATED MEMBER, POSITIONED TO EXTEND BEYOND SAID HOUSING AND DISPOSED FOR PIVOTING INWARDLY AT THEIR EXTENDED ENDS TOWARDS SAID ONE END OF SAID ELONGATED MEMBER WHILE IN SAID FIRST POSITION SO AS TO ENGAGE THE SIDES OF AN ADJACENT HOLLOW RECTANGULAR LEG AND URGE THEM TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER; AND (D) MEANS FOR SUBSTANTIALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY SLIDING SAID ELONGATED MEMBER FROM SAID SECOND POSITION TO SAID FIRST POSITION AND PIVOTING SAID ARMS SO THAT THEIR EXTENDED ENDS PIVOT INWARDLY AND THE END WALL OF AN ADJACENT HOLLOW RECTANGULAR LEG IS FORCED INWARDLY AND THE SIDE WALLS ARE URGED TOGETHER SUBSTANTIALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY. 